[LM_NET] ELEM-student attitudes about books with no RC tests

[Beth Davis <bethdavis@FLOYDBOE.NET>]

I couldn't really decide what the subject line of this email should say, but here 
is the problem.
My school participates in Reading Counts and has done so for years.  It's a big 
deal and that's fine.  BUT- sometimes when classses come to me I have a lesson 
planned around a book that Reading Counts does not have a test on.  The first thing 
out of student's mouths (WHILE I am speaking- I am always interrrupted with this) 
is, "How many points is it?"  If I say, "there aren't any" I get this universal 
groan and eyeroll and they make it quite plain they have no interest in this story. 
 I have tried talking to the classes and I even discussed it with a reading 
teacher. 
 I did give an example where I held up a book and told the class that we had just 
received the test.  I asked them if the story was any different last week (before 
we got the test) than this week.  I pointed out that the story was the same. Some 
got the point, but I am afraid that most of them still believe a book is no good 
unless it has a point value.
I want the students to enjoy Reading Counts and I am glad they are motivated, but 
at what cost?  What kind of monster are we creating when a child believes that the 
sole factor that determines the quality of a story is whether is has a test?  I 
know this has been discussed before but it is just really getting on my library 
nerves as of late.



Beth Davis
Media Specialist
Model Elementary School
Rome, GA
bethdavis@floydboe.net






Education is not about filling a pail, it's about lighting a fire."  ~
William Butler Yeats






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